Clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli police on the Temple Mount early Friday morning as tensions, terrorist threats and observance of major holidays around the holy site mounted.
Around 6:30 a.m. skirmishes were reported between police and worshipers at the site, with officers entering the site and clashing with people barricaded inside.
Police said in a statement that around 4 a.m., dozens of young people began marching in the area, carrying flags of both the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Gaza Strip’s ruling Hamas terror group.
According to police, the protesters threw rocks and firecrackers while stockpiling rocks and other items in preparation for further clashes.
Police said they waited for morning prayers to end before entering the Temple Mount to disperse the rioters and that some of them threw stones at the Western Wall below.
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According to police, some Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, from where they hurled stones at officials. The police statement said the riots prevented prayers at the mosque and “thereby harmed a large number of Muslims” who wanted to worship there.
Police said three officers were slightly injured after stones were thrown at them, two of whom required medical treatment.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency Response Group reported that 67 people were injured in the clashes.
Police released video from the crime scene.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry released a statement clarifying that officials did not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism.
“Masked men hurl stones and set off firecrackers and desecrate Al-Aqsa Mosque,” it said. “Contrary to fake reports, the police did NOT enter the mosque.”
Masked men hurl rocks and set off firecrackers that desecrate Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Contrary to fake reports, police forces did NOT enter the mosque. pic.twitter.com/IaXnXbcDts
– Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (@IsraelMFA) April 15, 2022
The fear of violence was already great before the fights on Friday morning.
This Friday marks the second in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the first night of Judaism’s week-long holiday of Passover, and Good Friday, when Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ
At the same time, a series of deadly terrorist attacks in Israel in recent weeks has killed 14 people and left Israel reeling. The attacks have prompted countermeasures by Israeli security forces across the West Bank, including arrests that have turned violent.
Hamas called for an escalation against Israel on Thursday, urging “hundreds of thousands” to attend Friday prayers in Jerusalem, further stoking fears of conflict.
Thousands of police officers and hundreds of soldiers have been sent to the capital to increase security on streets and crowded squares. Security forces have warned of further attack attempts and are working to close gaps in the separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank.
Palestinians burn tires as they block the roads leading to Joseph’s tomb near the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, April 11, 2022. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)
Border police operations chief Oded Aflalo told Ynet on Thursday that border police troops were on high alert.
“Today is the day when we are at the peak of preparations leading up to the Seder night combined with prayers for Friday’s Ramadan,” he said, referring to the traditional dinner on the first night of Passover. “All possible scenarios are on the table, from the level of a threatening individual to a terrorist cell of a terrorist organization.”
He said border police are working to find Palestinians already in Israel illegally.
A senior police official told Ynet that additional officers will be guarding train and bus stations, which are expected to be packed with travelers and soldiers returning home from the base. The police officer also said security will be tightened at hotels and other places where large Seder dinners are held.
Palestinian Authority security forces are cooperating with their Israeli counterparts, and most of the Palestinian public is not expected to take to the streets, Channel 12 reported.
IDF soldiers will operate in the West Bank on April 13, 2022. (Israel Defense Forces)
A senior security official told Channel 12 that an outbreak of violence could drag Israel into another round of fighting in Gaza, like last year’s war with Hamas.
“If tomorrow there is an escalation and there are casualties, we can reach the second round of Operation Guardian of the Walls,” he said, referring to the 2021 conflict.
Ramadan is usually a time of high tension as tens of thousands of worshipers, including many Palestinians from the West Bank, attend services at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, located on the Temple Mount. The site is the holiest place in Judaism and the mosque is the third holiest in Islam.
The place is the emotional epicenter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and tensions there can easily escalate into major wildfires. Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorist groups have repeatedly labeled the holy site’s focal point as the red line. Police action to quell unrest there over the past year helped spark the 11-day war in Gaza in May.
Palestinians attend afternoon prayers on the Temple Mount, on which the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located in Jerusalem’s Old City, on April 8, 2022, during the first Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)
This week, a group of Jewish extremists have escalated tensions by publicly calling for ritual sacrifices for Passover on the Temple Mount. Jews are allowed to visit the site but not pray or perform religious rituals, as part of a delicate status quo.
The extremist group Returning to the Mount, which is campaigning for the construction of a third Jewish temple on the site where the two Biblical temples once stood, announced on Facebook Monday that it would offer a cash prize to those who do manage to sacrifice a lamb the Temple Mount and anyone arrested in the attempt.
A small group of Jewish extremists have occasionally attempted to perform the biblically mandated Passover sacrifice on the Temple Mount. The police have regularly arrested the perpetrators, who appear to have failed to make any victims on the site in recent years.
This year’s would-be-victims campaign has garnered tremendous traction in Palestinian and Arab media following the social media post, which was threatened by Hamas and condemned by Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Israeli authorities have vowed to halt any attempts to bring sacrificial animals into the complex, as they have done in previous years.
On Thursday, Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip said in a joint statement: “We are declaring a general mobilization in all places where our people are. We are calling on the masses to come out in their hundreds of thousands to protect our nation and our mosque.”
Yahya Sinwar, leader of the Hamas terror group, hosts a meeting with members of Palestinian factions at the Hamas President’s office in Gaza City on April 13, 2022. (Attia Muhammad/Flash90)
“We are calling on our people to march by the hundreds of thousands to hold Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa,” the groups said.
Six Jews were arrested Thursday morning after police suspected they were planning to sacrifice a goat on the Temple Mount before Passover.
Israel has sent messages to Hamas that Israeli authorities would not allow Jewish extremists to hold sacrifices on the Temple Mount, Hamas official Saleh al-Aruri told Hamas media.
Al-Aruri said Hamas does not trust Israel’s assurances and that the terrorist group is preparing to respond to attempts to “defile al-Aqsa.”
Tens of thousands were already expected for Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa. Most Ramadan worshipers will enter Israel without permits, part of a policy to ease what are usually tight Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement for the holiday. Participation by West Bank Palestinians is limited to women, children and men over 50, as decreed by the Defense Ministry earlier this month.
The admission of thousands of Palestinians poses a clear security risk for Israel, but the crackdown on believers during Ramadan could trigger an outbreak of violence.
Adding to the holiday friction, Israeli troops have been conducting extensive raids in the West Bank following the deadliest terror outbreak in Israel in years. The raids have sparked violent protests in numerous West Bank communities.
In the past two weeks alone, at least 16 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with the IDF, including a 17-year-old who died Friday morning from injuries sustained the previous day.
The IDF announced on Thursday that a total of 18 suspects had been arrested in the West Bank in the past few days.